OT:pine-wood derby car

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

John K Jordan

>Nice! We did that many years ago. I helped a lot with the design but the kids did the work. We hollowed one out (kept it within the weight limits) and inserted a battery and two flashing LEDs on the top to make a police car. It was a big hit and a lot of fun.

JKJ in East TN

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Jennifer@Indy.USA

>Very slick Keith! I can see why it raised a few eyebrows :)

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Keith Tompkins

>Thanks John, this one was done about 20 years ago, hopefully, I've grown up a bit since.

We set up workshops at my shop, teaching the kids to use a bandsaw, drill press and hand tools, how to sand and paint their cars. Some kids came from single-mom families, so extra time was spent to insure all the kids had a car to enter. We even built our own test track to make sure the cars worked properly.

It sure was a lot of fun!

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Duane C.Leach

>It's amazing Keith. It may well have taken 40 hours to make this car, but it was 40 hours of fun not work.

Duane

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

echo8287

>I remember the Pinewood Derby when I was in the Boy Scouts a long time ago. Me and my Dad carved out the car,polished the axels,wheels, and added graphite to the axels. When the races started We lost the very first race, but came to the conclusion we had to have more weight. We added quarters in the seat position up to the limit on weight. We did not lose again and ended up winning the whole thing. Towards the end of the races everyone had named us the "Money Car" and the one to beat. It was alot of fun. The car looked nowhere near as nice as yours,David

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

TomW In SouthJersey

>For the past few years I've helped a friend's son build a car and each year we got more creative yet never won. This was his last year and I polished the axle nails used graphite, honed the wheel holes, and trued the outside edges fo the wheels. My friend works in law enforcement and borrowed a conficated drug scale so we had the exact weight. We still didn't win the race this year but did win for design.

I wish I had seen this post a few months ago.

Nice car.

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Larry

>You should have been disqualified from the first competition. I was a Cub leader and the intent of the competition is to have the boy do all or at least most of the design and the work. You taught your child that it's OK to cheat because others will. And don't give me that crap about IBM and computer design. Your car beat most of the others by more than half the track. Tells me that there were a lot of teams FOLLOWING the rules and intent. Shame on you.

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Keith Tompkins

>Yes, Larry I am a bad person. I taught my son lots of other bad stuff too....like not judging other people. Things like putting yourself in someone else's place, you may learn to understand them. I actually taught him that we all have our shortcomings and we should forgive others.the worst thing I taught him: if you don't have something good to say about someone, it may be better not to say anything at all.

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

woodspinner/ Bill Hale

>My only comment on this total thread is that there seems to be a lack of kids input. I only hope that the kids that this is designed for had participation and learned something other to let someone else do it better than they could.

Quite possibly there should be a Soapster Derby for the dads.

Bill in Casa Grande, AZ.

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Keith Tompkins

>I actually started this thread because I thought it was a bit of fun. It would have been a good thing for a dad's competition, which I actually proposed.

To be dead serious, I knew from previous years that the derby was rough on some of the kids. Some have terrible home lives, no dad or one who didn't care to participate in the kid's activities. My shop was open to all the kids, especially those who needed help..emotional help as well. It was great to see a car that previously stopped mid-way on the track become a contender. BTW, any tips we learned were shared with all the kids just to be fair. I spent time teaching a bit about how physics affects the car's performance, as well as how to use the tools around the shop to make a car to be proud of. I didn't stress the point of winning, rather, learning to do the best job you are capable of.

Cheating? there were several cars running on high-silica bronze axles and mail-order wheels and I don't know what else. Every component of our car was original, right out of the box, except for weight.

Even when my son was too old for cub scouts, my home was always open to the kids; my wife and I had formed some strong bonds and great memories...some twenty years later, I'll still hear a familiar voice "Hey, Mr. Tompkins!" when I see a former scout. And finally, yes my son and I built the car together, he helped on every stage of the car, including spraying the finish.

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Dan in the NW

>I don't post here often but this is one I can't let go by . . .

More years ago than I want to admit I face a similar situation as a kid. As a kid I lived in the land of Boeing. Two years in a row I got my hieny handed to me by the high-tech windtunnel tested designs. My final year as a Cub Scout/Weeblo, my dad and I were ready to get even.

He contacted one of his buddies that owned a machine shop and had custom axles turned from a metal composite with low friction properties. The backlite tires were turned and trimmed, 1/4" wide tapering to a razor's edge. We even had a backup set of wheel with bearing inserts that we hoped we could get the judges to allow.

A few days before the competion all we had to do was carve my body. My Dad had to take an unexpected trip out of town but said he'd be back 2 days before the races. While he was out of town we got a phone call on a rules update. Only the stock nail 'axles' were allowed and the tires had to have their tread. The only modification was to remove the machining marks.

When I got home from school on Thursday my mom told me my Dad was going to be gone an extra day. I did what any 11 or 12 year old would do. I panicked and made the car on my own. I cut a wedge, mounted the wooden axle blocks, and wasted a can of blue spray paint.

My Dad got home on Friday and his only priority was to help me get my car ready. When he saw what I'd done, he wasn't upset nor did he condemn my design. He could tell it was going to be too light because of all the wood I cut off. He borrowed a micro-balance from a friend so we could get the weight as perfect as possible. We also removed all of the machining marks from the tires and axles.

The next morning everyone showed up for the races. Some of the designs were incredible. There was a Blue Flame replica, several fuselages with hollow centers, plastic model parts, etc. I felt sorry for my best friend, Mike, his parents were going though a divorce. His Dad stood him up and he had to make his car on his own. It was a block of wood with rounded corners painted bright orange.

We had full head-to-head racing, every car raced every other car. The top 8 cars then had double elimination finals. Imagine everyones shock when the two least aerodynamic and ugliest designs started kicking @)#$. I lost 3 races all day. All to my Mike. He only lost one race. We finished 1st and 2nd.

By finishing 1st and 2nd we got to go on to the district jamboree competition. It was double elimination bracket racking. The district competition allowed tire shaving, axles mods, etc. We didn't know ahead of time and were both out in two rounds.

Many years later my Dad shared some of the story with me that I didn't know. He took great pleasure when his son's low tech hacksawn effort beat the efforts from aerodynamic engineers. On race day, he felt so bad about Mike's car and didn't want him to be embarassed so both of our cars got 'lost' for 10-15 minutes. He swapped our tires and axles, then he used his pocket knife to clean up the tires and axles from Mike's car so I wouldn't notice. He also used the micro-balance to get Mike's weight dead on by carving a hole in the bottom of Mike's car with his knife and inserting coins. The day before the district competition he went to where Mike's Dad worked. He told him that he would be there on Saturday or else.

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to share one of the most memorable stories of my childhood. It also reminds me of the kindness, generosity, and concern for others my Dad lived his life by.

Thanks

Dan

Re: OT:pine-wood derby car

Larry

>Nothing but rationalization. by your own admission, you're extremely competitive. You let that blind you to fair play. Your son didn't win - you prevented him from playing. You didn't win - you merely cheated better than everyone else that cheated.